Previous Issues

Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Kuwait

ABSTRACT

An evaluation of the effects of seed size on germinability, six seedling characters, and nine mature plant characters was carried out on the cultivar Toria-7 of Brassica campestris L. Seeds were classified into three seed categories, viz. small, large, and ungraded, and were grown in pots in a randomised block design. Small seeds exhibited a significantly lower percentage of seed germination than the large and ungraded seeds. Except for stem diameter, all seedling characters were significantly higher in the large and ungraded seed classes. With respect to mature plant characters, the large and ungraded seed classes excelled the smaller ones by producing more primary branches and pods per plant, more seeds per pod, and higher yield per plant. The expression of other characters, however, was not affected by the size of seed. Correlation estimates indicated highly significant and linear relationships among seed weight, seedling characters (except stem diameter), yield, and three yield components mentioned above. Results obtained suggest marked influence of seed size on early developmental stages and some of the mature plant characters studied. Selection of seed size should improve seedling vigour and consequently later characteristics including yield in this crop. Selection of uniform seed size is also important for genetic and agronomic studies.